The Middle
by eyelinerprincess
Summary: Kelsi's glad to be in college to escape her unrequited love for Gabriella, it makes good songwriting material, but she never banked on someone else coming along to steal her heart...Ryelsi and Kelsella. Smidgen of other couples.
1. New School, Same Faces

Dropping her cases at her feet, Kelsi glanced at the bare walls of her new room and proceeded to collapse onto the bed. Staring at the ceiling for a while, she let out a low groan and closed her eyes. She almost wished she was back at East High preparing for her senior year again, rather than being a million miles away in a new city, starting college in a place where she knew no one (well, she knew one person, but he'd be way too busy to talk to her) with a serious case of writers' block. Which wasn't good considering she'd come all this way to become a famous composer and songwriter and make a million dollars with a musical that was going to be bigger than anything on Broadway ever.

There was one consolation, she thought to herself. She was away from some of her former classmates, including one in particular. Gabriella, Gabriella, Gabriella...Even her name made Kelsi break into a grin. She was so gorgeous and talented and sweet and kind and funny...and just happened to be in love with the star of the basketball team, Troy Bolton. Oh and had also gotten into a college not far from him so they could live happily ever after and have lots of cute babies.

OK, so that wasn't fair. Troy was a great guy, and Kelsi couldn't help it if Gabriella liked guys, it was just a stupid unrequited crush which might actually go away if she learned not to think about her and channel all her hurt and upset into writing some amazing songs instead of on her pillow at night.

Hearing a knock at the door, Kelsi groaned again and was about to yell at whoever it was to go away, but then realised that might not be the best idea. She did need to find some friends here, and telling people to get lost when they were only trying to talk to you wouldn't be the best start to any friendship.

"Come in, it's unlocked!" She called, pulling herself up and grabbing a hat to cover her hair. It had been a habit she'd fallen into at high school and one that she hadn't really grown out of yet. Besides, the hats covered her face, made her almost invisible.

"Well if it isn't East High's former resident songwriter!" A voice came from the doorway and she glanced up to see a familiar face standing there smiling at her.

"Oh, hey Ryan." She smiled slightly and invited him into the small bedroom. Sitting down on the chair by the desk, she pulled off her hat again. "What are you doing here?"  
"Well I was bored and thought that you might want to come and explore the college with me. There's a tour starting in ten minutes." He suggested, and she shook her head.

"I've still got to unpack and I want to go and find somewhere to buy a few posters for this room. And I want to try and write something, I've hardly written all summer…" She trailed off, but Ryan took her hand and looked at her sternly.

"Nuh uh, those are lousy excuses, almost as bad as the one you made to try and get out of going to prom with me. Besides, I need a cute girl by my side." He winked and pulled her to her feet.

"OK, OK, but you owe me big time, Ryan Evans."


	2. Questions

Ryan didn't let go of her hand, she noticed, as they walked to the designated tour starting point (which was just outside the main reception). She also noticed that he looked quite nice today. He was just wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, a welcome change from the extravagant outfits he used to wear in high school (she suspected that his sister, Sharpay, had picked out most of his outfits). His blonde hair, which was normally hidden under a hat, was shorter than she had imagined, but long enough that it could be spiked up with gel, which was how he had styled it that day.

"So how come you never made it to the party that Sharpay organised after graduation?" Ryan suddenly asked out of the blue, and Kelsi stared down at the floor. Was he honestly just asking or was he accusing her of something?

"I had to go and see my grandparents the next day. We had to get up really early." She mumbled.

"Of course." He answered almost sarcastically. "So it was nothing to do with a certain person being there with their other half?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She replied, not really believing that he would take that for an answer. If there was one thing she'd learned about Ryan Evans since she'd met him, it was that he was persistent.

"Kelsi, give it up. Everyone knows that you had an uber crush on Gabriella." He smiled and she let go of his hand.

"Everyone?! Does she know?"  
"Possibly, I never asked. But I know that Taylor knew, and so did Sharpay, and Martha. I think the guys were clueless about it, though." Great, no wonder Gabriella had been a bit off with her after the final show. She'd spent the whole night clinging to Troy and had hardly spoken to Kelsi all evening apart to congratulate her.

"So is it just girls, or...?" Ryan asked as they walked towards the gathering of people in the hallway outside the reception.

"You're still in with a chance." She winked at him before walking over to a group of girls whom she recognised from her dorm, while Ryan stared after her. She had become so different over the summer break, more outgoing, flirty...there was no doubting that she had grown up a lot over the past few years and now that she didn't have Sharpay to bark orders at her and generally shoot down her every suggestion, comment or critique, she had come out of her shell a lot. And Ryan was sure he was going to like this new Kelsi Neilsen.


	3. Lies

"Hey, Kelsi, right?" The blonde girl asked as Kelsi wandered up to a group of girls she had met earlier that day.  
"Yeah, you're…" She tried to think for a moment. "Joanne?" She offered, and the girl nodded.

"Yeah, and this is Amanda, Kelly and Jess." Joanne introduced the girls she had previously been talking to. "Who's your friend? He's cute."

"Oh that's Ryan, he's-"  
"Gay, right? Figures, most of the guys here are. Especially the hot ones." Kelly sighed as her eyes fell on a brown haired guy, who kinda reminded Kelsi of Troy Bolton, as he smiled at her before wrapping his arm around another guy's back. "See what I mean?" She moaned.

"No, actually Ryan's my boyfriend." Kelsi lied. "We came from Albuquerque together."

"Lucky bitch!" Kelly murmured, glancing back at Ryan, who was deep in conversation with another guy, gesturing wildly about, Kelsi guessed, choreography, probably something about Fosse, Ryan's idol.

"So how long have-"

"OK everyone, I'm Rebecca and I'm going to be showing you around this lovely college today." The girl in front of them announced, silencing the chatter of everyone in the lobby, including Kelly. "On the way you can drop off in various rooms, there'll be some workshops going on in the dance studios for all you dancers and choreographers, the music rooms for the composers and musicians, and the drama studios for all you aspiring actors and actresses." She announced before leading the way out of the lobby and down a corridor. Kelsi noted that Rebecca was, first of all, gorgeous, and second of all, had the sweetest voice she had ever heard. Maybe even sweeter than Gabriella.

"You're staring, Neilsen." Kelsi heard a voice in her ear and she turned her head to see Ryan standing directly behind her.  
"I was not." She whispered back as she grabbed his hand. "You be heading to the dance studio then?" She asked, and he shrugged.

"I just wanted to see where everything was before classes started tomorrow. I was gonna go to the café on the second floor but couldn't find anyone to go with me."

"We would!" Kelly piped up from beside Kelsi and Amanda and Joanne nodded in agreement.  
"Yeah, get to know your fellow dancers, right?" Amanda added.

"Well actually I'm a choreographer, but I'll probably be working with you anyway…Kels, you in?"  
"Course I am, honey." She smiled as she kissed him on the cheek. Ryan looked confused, but decided not to ask. He thought there had been some chemistry between them during senior year, but he didn't ask her out because he knew she'd been infatuated with Gabriella, and he didn't think he'd be able to stand being second best.

They walked down the corridor for another few minutes until they stopped in their tracks.

"OK guys, this is the main notice board." Rebecca announced. "This is where you can keep up with all the latest going ons here, with various clubs, societies and trips so on. The signups for the clubs will be in the main hall at the end of the week. I hope to see a few of you signing up for the GLBT club, of which I am secretary." Kelsi thought that Rebecca had glanced at her when she'd said that, but she shook that thought off. She was just being paranoid after the shock of finding out that everyone knew about her and Gabriella.

Almost an hour later, after Ryan had dragged Kelsi away from the soundproof rooms complete with baby grand pianos, the tour had ended and the five friends were sat on the sofas in the student café. She hoped that none of them would bring up the subject of her and Ryan's "relationship".

"So how long have you two been dating then?" No such luck.

"A few months, since senior prom." She replied, squeezing Ryan's hand tightly, and he squeezed back, as if to say "understood".

Kissing her on the cheek, he whispered that he wanted to talk to her, and rolling her eyes, she followed him over to the vending machine in the corner.


	4. Pepsi or Dr Pepper?

_Listening to Lucas singing Let It Snow while I'm writing this. Yay! Anyway…_

* * *

"Ryan I-" Kelsi started as Ryan started feeding coins into the machine, glancing between diet Pepsi and Dr Pepper as if it were the most important decision he'd ever had to make.

"You do know that you're supposed to ask a person out before you tell anyone that you're dating." Ryan murmured, watching as the bottle of Dr Pepper fell to the bottom of the vending machine with a clunk.

"I know, but I like you and Sharpay said that you liked me and we had such fun at the prom and during the senior musical…" She trailed off and Ryan glanced at her. "So I thought maybe that we could go out."

"And you said we've been going out for months because…" A slight smile played on his lips, he found the whole situation amusing, especially the worried expression on the girl's face as she tried to stammer her way out of it.

"Because, well, um, because KellylikedyouandIdidntwanthertohaveyou." She hurriedly finished that sentence and stared at the floor, worried that he would pick Kelly and not her.  
"And what makes you think I'd want her?" He asked, placing two fingers under her chin and pushing her head upwards, forcing her to look into his blue eyes.  
"She's so much prettier than I am, and you have more in common with her than me." She gave him a shy smile and he recognised that as the old Kelsi, the shy quiet one, as opposed to the talkative flirty one that she had somehow transformed into over the summer.

"You don't know how gorgeous you are." He winked before leaning forward and giving her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Wow." She whispered as they pulled away. They had only kissed once before, at the prom, but she never remembered it being as good as that. She supposed that was because he had caught her by surprise that time, as opposed to them both being two nervous teenagers about to go in for their first kiss.

"One more question, are you sure you want to date me? It's not just to cover up the fact you're bi from your new friends, or to get over a certain friend is it?" It was his turn to feel insecure and nervous now, he wanted to consider his feelings, and how he would feel if she was just using him.

"Of course not Ryan." She smiled, still thinking about his kiss. OK, so it had just been a quick peck, but after that, she wanted more. "Your sister's not gonna be happy." She stated and Ryan laughed.

"What gives you that idea?"  
"Well after she told me that you liked me, she threatened to beat me up if I thought about going after you." She confessed.

"She's all the way in Albuquerque, what's she going to do? Drive to New York in her pinkmobile?"

"Maybe…"  
"She won't touch you, honestly. If there's one thing I've learned in the past eighteen years, it's how to handle Sharpay. Now we better go back to the girls, my little musical genius." He kissed her again before taking her hand and leading her back to the table.

"Everything alrght?" Amanda asked as they sat down, Kelsi sitting so close to Ryan that she was practically sitting on him.

"Everything's great." She grinned and then giggled as Ryan kissed her forehead and pulled her closer.

* * *

_OK so that was mostly filler, but there should be some good stuff coming up if I can get my brain working._


	5. Hair

The days turned into weeks in New York, and now it was October. The leaves had turned a gorgeous orange colour and were starting to fall off the trees. The stores were all decorated for Halloween, but inside Julliard rehearsals for the Winter shows were full speed ahead. Between them the music, drama and dance students had come up with a show to showcase their talents, and, to Kelsi's amazement, one of her songs had been chosen to be in the show! It was a new one called "I Wish", one she had written just after the Senior Year musical, and no surprises who it had been about. Ryan had given her praise, as he always did, when he was treated to a premiere of the song, sitting at the piano beside her, helping out with the singing whenever he felt like chiming in. He hadn't, however, said anything about the content of the song, or its intended recipient. She could tell he still was a bit jealous, but he understood that it was written before they had started dating.

"Knock knock!" Kelsi looked up from the sheet music that she had been editing to see a head peeking round her door, closely followed by a very Ryan-shaped body.

"Hey, come in!" She greeted him, noting there was something very strange about him. Namely that he was wearing a fawn beanie hat. She wasn't even aware that he even owned something like that, most of his hats (and he had a lot) were more extravagant, more sparkly, stood out more. But this one simply stood out for being so, well, plain.

"If you're busy I can come back, just wanted to see if you were up for going out for a little while." He sat down on the chair by Kelsi's desk, which was covered in sheet music, each painstakingly labelled with the name of the song, the page number and the date of conception. Sitting the sheet down beside her on the bed, she shook her head.

"I could come out for a couple of hours, I only have one more page to do and it doesn't have to be done til lunchtime tomorrow." She replied, picking up the various sheets scattered around her and putting them in order. "OK Mr Evans, one, where are you taking me, and two, what's with the hat?" She asked.

"One, that would be telling, and two, it keeps my head warm." He grinned. He was up to something, Kelsi could tell.

"Well it's nice and warm in here, so you could take it off…" She coaxed, but he shook his head.

"But we're just going out when you get ready." He argued, but she was too fast for him. She leaned over as if to give him a kiss, but grabbed his hat instead and pulled it off his head to reveal a head full of jet black hair.

"What the-your hair!" She exclaimed, running her hands through it.

"Do you like it?" He asked, and she studied it for a moment before nodding.

"I love it." She leaned in and kissed him softly, and feeling him return the kiss, she deepened it until his hands were in her hair and hers were under his shirt, trailing up and down his sides.

"As much as I'd like to do this, I have something planned." He whispered as he pulled away and gave her a kiss on the end of her nose. "Now get ready, it can't wait!" He urged.

"What am I wearing?" She moaned, digging through her drawers in the vain hope something might jump out at her.

"Something fancy, we're going to dinner." He replied casually as he flicked through the music sheets, then started to transpose where she'd left off. "Reservations are at six."

"If we're going to dinner and you've already booked it then why ask now?"  
"Because it was short notice and because I knew you'd come. Wear that halter neck, the black sparkly one." He said, scribbling furiously, then chewing thoughtfully on the pencil.

"But my hair's a mess, I can't wear a hat with that!" She sighed.

"Your hair's fine, Kels." He told her. "Now get dressed!" She really wasn't liking her boyfriend's bossy side at all. Quickly changing into the halter neck, teamed with a black patchwork skirt, she rooted around under her bed for the only pair of heels she owned, hoping to God that she wouldn't fall and break her ankle. She couldn't play the piano with a cast on. Finally, after hurriedly applying some makeup, she was done, just as Ryan had announced that he had finished her work and that he wanted 10% of all royalties for doing so.

"OK Ryan, where the hell are we going?" She asked as they walked up an almost deserted street. It felt like they had been walking for ages, when in reality it had only been five minutes. She cursed herself for putting heels on, her feet were killing her and she had to stop every few moments to adjust the straps.

"Patience, my little composer, patience." He took her hand and led her down an even more desolate side street and then down some steps into a fancy Italian restaurant.

"We've booked a table under the name Evans." Ryan informed the maitre'd.

"Your guests are waiting at the table in the corner." He replied, and Kelsi opened her mouth to ask "What guests?" but before she could, a voice came screeching across the restaurant.  
"Ryan! What have you done to your hair?!"

* * *

_Dun dun dunnnnnn! Hehe, the hair part of this chapter was pure indulgence, I like Lucas with dark hair..._


	6. Dinner

"Oh my god, what are you lot doing here?" Kelsi exclaimed as Sharpay pulled her into an unfamiliar and awkward hug.

"Daddy had a few thousand frequent flier miles left, and we all had a few days off, so e suggested an impromptu trip to New York for the five of us." She explained and pulling away, she studied Kelsi critically. "You look so grown up!" She eventually said. "So when are you two getting married then?" She asked, and Kelsi could feel herself turn bright red.

"Calm down, sis, we've only been dating a month!" Ryan laughed as he hugged his twin.

"Hold on, you two are dating? Why wasn't I told about this?" Troy asked as he hugged Kelsi.

"Well, you know, we wanted to see how it went first." She replied as she moved onto Zeke.

"How's my favourite chef?" She asked.

"Great. How's the greatest composer ever to come out of East High?"  
"Don't let Sharpay let you hear that." She giggled. Sharpay had tried to slip some of her compositions into the shows at East High, but Ms Darbus had let her down gently, telling her that they weren't quite what the drama club was looking for.

"Hey Playmaker!" Chad tapped her on the shoulder and Zeke passed her over to him, aware of Sharpay glaring at them.

"Hey Curly! Sorry about you and Taylor." She smiled sympathetically at him and he shrugged.

"Was bound to happen with the distance and everything." He reasoned. "So you and Evans, huh?"  
"Yeah, can you believe it? Has Sharpay put on weight?"  
"Zeke's finally found someone to sample his cooking. I think the Ice Queen has a weakness for his home made chocolate brownies." He laughed. "Speaking of her, I think she's getting impatient." Sharpay was now sitting reading the menu intently. "So you better say a quick hi to the love of your life and sit down." He whispered in her ear, then moved away to let the last person in the group to get up.

"Hey." Kelsi said shyly as Gabriella wrapped her arms around her.

"You look amzing." Gabriella shrieked and Kelsi just smiled, noting that Gabriella's hair smelled like Heaven. "No, stop it! You have Ryan and she has Troy." The smaller girl told herself.

After ordering (which Sharpay insisted they do straight away), he topics of conversation seemed to revolve around the following areas: Ryan and Kelsi; basketball; baseball; Ryan's new hair; how wonderful New York was (Sharpay and Gabriella had gone shopping earlier); East High drama club (which Sharpay was helping out with. She still hated Tiara with a passion but had to be civil to her); absent friends; memories of high school and California life.

The group of friends stuffed themselves with pizza, pasta, Bruschetta, meatballs and whatever else came their way, by order of Sharpay, whose father had given her money to treat them all to a fabulous night out.

"Mom wants to know if you're coming back for Thanksgiving." Sharpay stated after dinner was done and Chad, Zeke and Troy were looking over the dessert menu. Although it sounded more like an order than a statement.

"I dunno, sis." Ryan started, and Kelsi excused herself before she was dragged into the impending argument.

Staring at her reflection in the mirror of the small bathroom, Kelsi ran a brush through her already messy hair, wishing it was more like Sharpay's or Gabriella's. They could just get up, run a brush through their hair, and still look gorgeous. She, on the other hand, couldn't tame hers no matter how hard she tried. Applying some more lipgloss, she almost didn't notice the bathroom door opening.

"Thought this was where you'd disappeared to." Gabriella said as she glanced at her reflection in the mirror. "You didn't want to get dragged into the Evans fight either." She stated, and Kelsi nodded. "You're still the same quiet Kelsi under that confident act. Or is it just me you're shy with?" She asked, but didn't let the shorter girl answer. "You do look amazing tonight, but you've got a bit…" Gabriella nervously sorted Kelsi's hair, then froze for a moment as their eyes met. They stared at each other for a few seconds, neither one moving until their heads started to get closer and closer until their lips met.

After the initial shock wore off, Kelsi found herself relaxing in Gabriella's embrace, her tongue exploring the unfamiliar territory of the girl's mouth. She felt like she could stay like that forever, but they were interrupted by the slam of the bathroom door and a yell of "Oh my god! Ryan! Troy!"


	7. Aftermath

"Sharpay, please don't tell them, I'm begging you!" Gabriella begged as Sharpay called the boys over again.

"And why not?" The blonde asked as her twin stood beside her.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked as he glanced from his sister to his girlfriend and back again. "Shar? Kelsi?"  
"Your girlfriends were kissing!" Sharpay announced to the boys as they stood behind her.

"What? No. Sharpay, you must have got it wrong, Gabriella's straight, right honey?" Troy asked, looking over at Gabriella, but she just stared at the floor, not wanting to meet his eye. "Gabi?" He prompted, this time not sounding so sure of himself.  
"Troy, I-" She whispered, taking a step towards him and taking his hand, but he pulled away.

"How long?"

"Just there, just once. It was just a moment, I didn't mean to, it just happened." She could feel the tears well up in her eyes as Troy glared at her angrily.

"I knew this would happen. As soon as she showed up, you'd get feelings for her again." Ryan broke the silence. "But I never dreamed you'd do this."

"You knew about this?" Troy half-yelled. "And you didn't say anything? Did you know, Chad?" He turned to his best friend, and Chad stood silently for a moment. "You're supposed to be my friend."

"I am your friend, dude, I just didn't think-"  
"You didn't think to tell me my girlfriend wanted to have sex with girls?"  
"OK, Troy, calm down. I knew that Kelsi liked Gabriella, that's it." Chad explained, and Troy growled at him before stalking off, Gabriella following close behind him.  
"I knew you weren't good enough for my brother." Sharpay hissed at Kelsi, who took a step back from the group in front of her. There was no way out of the bathroom except through the crowd, and she was pretty sure Sharpay wouldn't let her get away in a hurry. She was trapped.

"She kissed me!" Kelsi protested, but the blonde girl shook her head.  
"You weren't exactly stopping her, were you?" She made a fist and took a step towards the timid girl in front of her. Ryan noticed this and put his arm in front of his twin, ensuring that she couldn't get any closer.

"Shar, leave us to talk."

"You're not going to forgive her, are you?"

"Just go!" Ryan ordered, and grudgingly, his sister led the two other boys out of the bathroom and back into the restaurant. Kelsi swore she could hear her murmur "slutty dyke" as she walked away, but chose to ignore it. She didn't want to make things any worse than they already were.

"OK, so tell me what happened." Ryan started as soon as the door had closed. "Did you kiss her?"  
"She kissed me! She instigated it." Kelsi protested, knowing it was hopeless.

"But you kissed back. You're just as guilty." Ryan gritted his teeth to keep him from showing his upset. "I can't deal with this now, I can't be second best."  
"But you're not!" Kelsi whispered, moving close to him. "I love you, Ryan."  
"You should have thought of that." He replied coldly. "You know, I was going to ask you to sleep with me tonight. I'm just glad I found out what kind of person you were before I lost my virginity to you." He confessed, and now it was Kelsi's turn to cry. She felt a tear run down her cheek, probably black from her mascara, but she made no move to wipe it.

"Ryan, I, you, we…" She sniffed, but his expression didn't change. He stood there for a moment before sighing.

"Kelsi, it's over." He finally stated, then walked out the bathroom and over to his sister, who was paying the bill. Kelsi watched them, but made no move to come out the bathroom until they had left.


	8. POV

_Yay Olessya in Urban Legend 3. This isn't my best chapter, damn writers' block :-(_

_All songwriting credit goes to the gorgeous, talented, geeky (hey, tis important to me) and way more angsty than I could ever be, Tom Fletcher.  
_

_

* * *

  
_

Kelsi woke up the next morning and groaned. Her head hurt, possibly due to the copious amounts of alcohol she'd drunk last night in a vain attempt to try and get over Ryan. Opening her eyes, she was aware of four things. One, she was in her own bed (although how exactly she'd got there was anyone's guess). Two, there was a cell phone ringing from her dresser, and it wasn't hers. Three, she was only wearing her underwear. And four, she wasn't alone. She hardly dare look under the duvet, and she tried to get up without disturbing the body beside her, but as she sat up, it moaned, rolled over, grabbed the cell phone, then rejected the call in disgust.

"Sharpay, probably to bitch at me again. I swear ever since she got pregnant…" Gabriella moaned as she rubbed her temples. "Oh god, my head's killing me."  
"Gabi, did we…?" Kelsi asked, indicating her semi-naked body. She was too afraid to finish that sentence.

"No! Well, I'm pretty sure nothing happened…How much did we have to drink?" The brunette asked, and Kelsi nodded towards the empty bottle. "I remember Troy telling me not to bother going back to our hotel room, then I came here." She replied as she sat up. "You were pretty drunk when I got here. I had to take your phone off you to stop you calling Ryan again." Kelsi groaned at that part. How desperate must she have sounded to him? Especially when it was painfully clear that he didn't want to see her any time in the near future. "Then I drank some vodka, and we stumbled off to bed and fell asleep. Kels, don't worry about it, Ryan loves you, he always has done, and Troy and I will get back together before we get back to California. It was a stupid fight, and we just need to make them see that."

Hearing a knock at the door, she jumped out of bed and raced over to it, opening it a few inches, just enough for her to poke her head through, but not enough for whoever it was to see inside. She reasoned that because she was only in her underwear, she didn't want anyone to see her, but knew in the back of her mind that it was because she didn't want anyone to see Gabriella in her bed. Especially if it was Ryan…

"Morning." Joanne chorused happily, and immediately Kelsi wanted to throw something at her. "If you're not coming to rehearsal, you better give me your song to take." She eyed Kelsi critically. "Oh, and Ryan asked me to give you this. He looked pretty pissed, you two alright?"

"We broke up." Kelsi confessed, not wanting to divulge the whole story. Taking the note from Joanne's fingers, she told her to wait a moment. Closing the door on her friend's face, she rummaged around her desk for the sheet music that Ryan had finished for her the previous night. That seemed like weeks ago, she couldn't believe it was only sixteen hours. Grabbing the nearest t-shirt, she pulled it on before going back to the door and handing Joanne the paper.

"It's all done, tell Ms Gray I'm suffering from some kind of exotic disease or something." Kelsi tried to look as if she wanted to talk to Joanne, when in fact, she was itching to read Ryan's note. He had to be asking her to meet him to talk, didn't he? He wasn't the type of person to give up like that. Besides, he knew it was just a stupid moment that didn't mean anything…

"OK, brokenheartitis it is." Joanne smiled, making Kelsi laugh in return. "I better go, I'll come over after class and we can bitch about what bastards men are." She told her as she walked off, and Kelsi closed the door again and collapsed on the chair by her desk.

Fingering the letter, she slowly unfolded it and read every word slowly. Twice. Then she crumpled it up and threw it across the room.

"What did it say?" Gabriella asked, and Kelsi shrugged as Gabriella leaned over to retrieve it from the floor, and in turn read the words he had inscribed:

_Dear Kelsi,_

_You're a musician, put music to this:_

**_I'm getting tired of asking,  
__This is the final time.  
__So did I make you happy?  
__Because you cried an ocean  
__When there's a thousand lines  
__About the way you smile written in my mind.  
__But every single word's a lie _**

**_I never wanted everything to end this way  
__But you can take the bluest sky and turn it gray__You swore to me that you would do your best to change__  
But I said, "It don't matter"__  
I'm looking at you from another point of view__  
And don't know how the hell I fell in love with you  
I never wish for anyone to feel the way I do _**

**_Is this a sign from heaven showing me the light?__  
Was this supposed to happen?  
I'm better off without you, so you can leave tonight.__  
And don't you dare come back and try to make things right  
'Cause I'll be ready for goodbye._**

**_I never wanted everything to end this way  
__But you can take the bluest sky and turn it gray__You swore to me that you would do your best to change__  
But I said, "It don't matter"__  
I'm looking at you from another point of view__  
And don't know how the hell I fell in love with you  
I never wish for anyone to feel the way I do _**

_- Ryan_

Gabriella stared at the letter in shock before murmuring "bastard" and walking over to Kelsi and pulling her into a huge hug. "You're better off without him. In fact, we're better off without guys altogether. They don't understand about us." She whispered, and Kelsi nodded quietly, a tear falling from her cheek. She knew deep down that Gabriella was right, but she couldn't bring herself to say it, especially when it hurt so much.


	9. Home For Christmas part 1

_At the moment, my dog is trying to give me inspiration, he's even signed my notepad with a lovely muddy paw print. Therefore this chapter is dedicated to Bob, the only dog who thinks that happiness is touching everyone in the room at once._

Weeks came and went, and Kelsi hadn't seen head nor tail of Ryan since the night he'd told her it was over. Having different classes and living on completely different sides of the campus, there was hardly any chance of them bumping into each other anyway.

Eventually Christmas came around, and Kelsi found herself back in her old room in New Mexico, her black lab, Buster, curled up at the end of the bed, occasionally moving, groaning, then closing his eyes again. Picking up her notepad, she scribbled down her thoughts. Thoughts about life and family and home and music and, most importantly, love. She'd kinda hoped that she'd see Ryan on the flight back home, but he was nowhere to be seen, either on the plane or in either airport.

"Kelsi, honey, can I come in?" Lenora Neilsen asked softly from the other side of the door.

"Sure, mom, come on in." Kelsi replied, and Lenora sat beside her daughter on the bed, much to Buster's disgust at being moved to make room for her.

"You OK, honey? You haven't been the same since you came back from New York."  
"I'm fine, mom, honestly." She lied, but Lenora shook her head.

"You know you can't lie to me. You're really no good at it. Now what's up? Is it a boy?" She pressed.

"Kind of. Look, I really don't wanna talk about it." She signed, and Lenora pulled her only child into a hug.

"OK, one last question and I'll leave you alone. You're not pregnant, are you?"  
"MOM!" Kelsi half-glared at her mother.

"Sorry, a mom's gotta ask these things. Especially after that Evans girl got herself into trouble. That reminds me, they've asked us to go over for Christmas dinner. I know we always have Christmas Day with just the two of us, but Mr Evans has helped out so much with the business, I thought it rude to say no." She coaxed, seeing her daughter frown. "Besides, that Ryan always did have a crush on you. Perhaps he can help you get over this boy." She nudged her daughter playfully, and Kelsi just rolled her eyes. It would be too much hassle to explain everything so, as always, she just kept quiet.


	10. Home For Christmas part 2

"So, Duckie, what do you think?" Mrs Evans indicated the seating plan, and Ryan quietly read over it. There was his mom and dad, at the head of the table, obviously. Beside his dad would sit Sharpay, then Zeke, then Mr and Mrs Baylor. To the other side, beside his mom, he would be sitting, then Kelsi and Mrs Neilsen?! Hold on, there had to be some mistake here.

"Mom, you invited the Neilsens?" He asked.

"Your father invited them. They were going to be spending the holidays alone, and your father only thought it right to ask them." Mrs Evans replies as she examined the place cards. "Is there a problem?"  
"Yeah, Ryan dumped Kelsi for making out with Gabriella." Sharpay purred from the sofa, her hand resting on her stomach.

"Oh honey, I wish you'd told me. They've already accepted, we can't back out now. I can switch the seats around if you want me to."  
"It's fine, mom, I'm over it." He told her. He didn't want her to go to any trouble just because of him. Christmas was stressful enough. Besides, it was one dinner, one hour of his life, then he could watch TV and find excuses not to talk to her for the rest of the day. She probably wouldn't want to talk to him anyway. He wished he could take back that stupid song and the harsh words he'd said. Perhaps he might not be able to trust her as a girlfriend again, but at least then they could still have been friends. He didn't want to admit it to his sister, but he kinda missed having her around.

* * *

_I decided to add both parts of this chapter at once, since they were only short parts (I really don't do short chapters anyway, nothing under 500 words)_. _So just one more chapter to go and it'll be finished, just in time for me going on a break to London for a few days._


	11. The End

Sitting in the car, Kelsi nervously fiddled with her hair. It was almost showtime. Almost time to face a pregnant, hormonal, and way more bitchy than she could ever have imagined, Sharpay. And, of course, her ex boyfriend who probably didn't want anything to do with her. "Kelsi, stop fidgetting. You'll be fine." Lenora scolded her daughter as she climbed into the drivers' seat.  
"But what if he doesn't want to talk to me?" She asked quietly, clinging onto his present for dear life.

"Then he's just being petty and you don't need a guy like that." Her mom tried to convince her. Kelsi had ended up telling her the whole story the night before. Not surprisingly she was shocked to learn about her daughter's crush on Gabriella, but she was supportive of her only daughter, and told her that she could be who she wanted to, date who she wanted, and no one could stop her, not even her mom.

"OK." Kelsi wasn't completely convinced, but she knew her mom knew a thing or two.

"Come in, come in!" Mrs Evans greeted them almost as soon as they'd rang the doorbell to the huge mansion in the affluent part of town. "Ryan, can you take Kelsi and Mrs Neilsen's coats please?" She asked, and it was then that Kelsi caught her first glimpse of her ex since they'd broken up. He looked well, but she wasn't exactly sure what she'd been expecting of him. He'd dyed his hair back to its original blonde colour, and he was wearing a suit which was smart but very, well, Ryan. It was bright and patterned and suited him perfectly.

"Sure." He hardly looked at Kelsi as he took her coat. "Everyone's in the lounge." He mumbled before disappearing upstairs. This was going to be fun.

"Didn't think you'd dare to come." Sharpay gave her fakest smile as soon as Kelsi had stepped into the lounge. "Everyone" was apparently just Sharpay and Zeke, and she wished Ryan had warned her, but from the look of things, he didn't even want to talk to her.

"Well I didn't want to disappoint." Kelsi smiled back as she sat down the presents she had been carrying onto the coffee table.

"Well someone should have told you that traitors aren't welcome in this house." Sharpay hissed back.

"Shar, leave it." Zeke interjected before a fight broke out, and considering Kelsi's new attitude, he doubted either one would back down.

"Zeke, dad needs help in the kitchen." Kelsi heard Ryan call from somewhere behind her, but she daren't look round. "And mom wants you to show Kelsi's mom the scan of the baby." He addressed his sister, and groaning, Sharpay followed Zeke out of the lounge, leaving Kelsi alone with Ryan.

"I got you a present." He broke the silence. "I went shopping yesterday, after I knew you were coming over and I got you this." He placed the small box in her lap and crouched down until he was at eye level with her. "And I bumped into Gabriella and Troy yesterday, and we went for coffee and they made me see something." He continued as Kelsi fondled the box, not wanting to open it straight away.  
"Which is…?" She prompted.  
"That I should never let my sister rule any part of me, especially my heart." He whispered as he placed his hands over hers. "It was her that made me give you that song. I was angry, I didn't really mean any of it, because I never stopped loving you. Even that night. I was upset because you hurt me, and you hurt me because I love you more than anything in this world. You're everything to me, and I forgive you, and I hope to God that you forgive me." He finished, staring into her eyes, and she stared at him for a moment before breaking into a grin.

"I forgive you, start over again?" She offered, and he pulled her up out of the chair and into a hug. Kissing her softly on the lips, he couldn't help but grin.

"If it's a girl, we'll call her Sharpay Jr." They pulled away as Sharpay entered the room along with Kelsi's mom and Zeke, who had apparently averted the impending kitchen disaster.

"Isn't she sweet?" Zeke sighed like the lovesick puppy he was, and Kelsi and Ryan gave each other a look.

"Zeke?" Kelsi interrupted sweetly.

"Yeah?"  
"Come here." She beckoned, and obligingly, he did so, much to Sharpay's annoyance. "This is from Chad, he gave me strict instructions." She informed him before hitting him over the head. "You call that child Sharpay Jr and we'll all disown you." Ryan laughed as Zeke looked around confused.

"OK, presents!" Ryan announced once he'd stopped giggling, and placing the presents in the middle of the room, the four teenagers sat in a circle. "Kelsi, you have yours, and here's one for me." He grabbed the gift which Kelsi had brought in and proceeded to shake it before undoing the ribbon wrapped around it and pulling back the paper slightly.

"Just open it!" Sharpay yelled impatiently, and he grinned as he ripped the paper and opened the box it contained to reveal a new pair of tap shoes.

"Woah! Just what I needed!" He exclaimed, examining his prize. "How did you know my size though?"  
"I had some help." She winked at Zeke.

"So _that's _why you were rummaging around my room yesterday!" He laughed. "Now Kelsi, open yours." He ordered, and obligingly, Kelsi unwrapped the small package and cautiously opened the blue velvet box and shrieked.

"I love them!" She whispered, giving Ryan a kiss on the cheek. Pushing her hair from the back of her neck, she let him put the necklace around her neck. "Thank you." She decided that it would be safer to put the earrings on herself, she didn't trust anyone to put those in for her, and then she leaned in at Sharpay's insistence so she could see them.

"Wow, that's so cute." The blonde fingered the treble clef now hanging from her neck. "Doesn't my brother have great taste?" She giggled. "So are you two, like, back together?" She asked as Ryan wrapped his arm around Kelsi's back.  
"Yeah, we are." He pulled her in closer. "Why?"  
"That's great. Sorry for everything, Kels, I just, you know, I was mad about what you did, but your mom and mine and Zeke made me see that you two make a great couple and I don't wanna see my brother miserable." She explained before giving Kelsi a tentative hug.

"Welcome to the family." Sharpay whispered into the smaller girl's ear, and Kelsi felt herself start to smile. OK, so maybe they weren't the best friends in the world now, but it was a start…


	12. Author's notes

Author's notes:

Sorry for not finishing this for ages, I've been mega busy and had terrible writers' block. Plus going on holiday for a few days didn't help matters.

Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed, and even those who have just read! I hope I've entertained you during this fic, and keep your eyes peeled for more from me in the near future.

A special thanks to Dramione x3 and digigirl02 for your continued reviews, they spurred me on to finish this, and to everyone who put either me or the fic on alert.

OK, I better stop before I start getting all mushy!

Love you all, Jen xxx


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